Shocking footage of havoc onboard cruise ship caught in big storm

The CCTV footage has just been released of what happened aboard a luxury cruise liner when a freak storm hit the ship 400 miles off the New Zealand coast.

According to The Sun, at least 42 passengers on board a P&O cruise liner were injured after a freak storm sent waves crashing into the ship as high as to the fifth deck.

The Australian Pacific Sun cruise ship's CCTV captured the scene inside the ship when the storm hit in July 2008, but the footage was just recently released on LiveLeak.

On board were 1,732 passengers and 671 crew members returning to Auckland, New Zealand from an eight-night cruise.

The storm hit just as dinner service was beginning. Furniture went flying along with passengers and ship crew members from one side of the ship to the other, violently slamming into each other and the pillars aboard the ship.

In the bowels of the ship, heavy equipment was thrown about, barely missing crew members caught down there during the raging storm.

One passenger said it was "like being in a disaster movie", while another said they were thrown about like "rag dolls".

Elizabeth Basher, who suffered a fractured knee during the storm, said: "We were getting a pre-dinner drink at the bar, moved to a safe place to be on the carpet to get some traction, and suddenly it happened, and we were just thrown across towards a plate-glass window."

Many of the passengers "suffered broken ribs and limbs, a fractured pelvis, a broken collar bone, and cuts and gashes."

Lisa Dolan asked for compensation after she had to spend a week in hospital for the broken ribs, cuts and ruptured kidney she suffered from being hit by a trolley.

A Carnival Australia spokesperson, the parent company for P&O, said: "A series of waves buffeted the ship, having an impact for people onboard. This was an exceptionally rare occurrence.

"The incident was fully investigated and lessons learnt have been heeded, including the securing of tables and other furnishings aboard."

P&O offered the passengers onboard the disaster ship a 25 percent discount on a future cruise with them in compensation for the bumpy ride.